


By Design

by MagicalDragon



Series: Areth verse [1]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Blood Pacts, Character Study, Historical References, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Queer Themes, Unhealthy Relationships, written right after watching the crimes of grindelwald
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-05 07:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16806535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalDragon/pseuds/MagicalDragon
Summary: A blood pact, Newt calls it, and midst his melancholy and regret, Albus feels a rush of fondness for the boy. Itisa blood pact, of course, but it was generous of Newt to put it so vaguely. He surely must know, as any adult witch or wizard from this corner of the world does, what it really is.





	By Design

It was hardly surprising to find himself in a room full of aurors yet again. The only surprising part was the location, though he supposes he should have seen it coming. The aurors had walked in while Albus was teaching a Defense Against The Dark Arts class, a subject he is adept at teaching, though he trusts himself better with his regular position as a Transfiguration teacher. The Defense teacher, Alexius Avery, had taken ill again and so the class fell to him. At least that means the aurors had interrupted a 4th year class rather than the 7th year one he’d normally be teaching at this time.

The subject he found himself teaching hadn’t been the surprising part; Alexius often took ill these days. What was surprising was how Travers and his aurors had entered Hogwarts. It is a testament to how dire the times are, Albus supposes, that they dare disrupt a place held as almost holy by the British wizarding society in such a manner. But Albus already knows the gravity of the situation. Better than they, perhaps. And he has nothing to give them.

It is not unexpected, then, when they change their tactic mid-interrogation. He had known it was coming, that it could only be a matter of time, but the moment they ask him about Gellert, he nevertheless finds his hands gripping the sides of his desk desperately tightly, as he forces himself not to reflect, not to let his mind wander, to keep it solely in this moment, here and now.

“You and Grindelwald were as close as brothers,” Travers says.

“We were closer than brothers,” Albus replies, partially to rattle him and his aurors, partially because they surely must already suspect as much.

His preference is hardly common knowledge. Wizarding law had never been particularly tight on the issue and had completely done away with legislating it during Albus’ youth, after the barbarism that was the trial of Oscar Wilde - nothing to prompt change in the Wizarding World like a desire to be different from muggles - but regardless, Albus has no desire to have his position at Hogwarts questioned by the small-minded. Still, he knows the aurors’ office has been keeping an eye on him, and as such had to know the places Albus frequents. With such information on their hands, his nature can hardly be a secret from them. The nature of his and Gellert’s relationship would be the natural next question to ask, given the circumstances. And they don’t deserve an answer to that, but letting them have it of his own volition is better than risking getting it thrown in his face further down the line.

And, as previously mentioned, Albus does enjoy rattling heterosexuals where appropriate. A number of the aurors do look decidedly uncomfortable, moving their weight from one leg to the other, looking anywhere but at him. Albus suppresses as smirk. At least Theseus looks mostly unfazed. While he is hardly his brother, Albus had liked both Scamander brothers during their time at Hogwarts. It would be a shame to think Theseus would let himself get too influenced by the likes of Travers.

  
The Scamander brothers are together the next time he sees them, and Albus finds that heartening. They are so very different: gentle Newt represents the deep kindness often found within Hufflepuff House, while Theseus represents the deep loyalty and feelings of duty often found in the more straight-laced members of the house. Albus knows a thing or two about being different from one’s brother. Aberforth still avoids him and Albus doesn’t blame him. There’s a reason he never did fix his nose. But he’s glad both Scamander brothers have proven worthy of each others’ regard.

At a closer inspection of the little group of unfortunates at Hogwarts’ metaphorical doorstep, Albus’ heart sinks. He had hoped against hope that Leta was still with them. The moment he doesn’t see her among them, he knows.

He still asks.

Leta is death.

Soon enough, Newt pulls a small vial out of his jacket and had Albus not been so adept at hiding his feelings, he might have gasped at the sight it.

A blood pact, Newt calls it, and midst his melancholy and regret, Albus feels a rush of fondness for the boy. It _is_ a blood pact, of course, but it was generous of Newt to put it so vaguely. He surely must know, as any adult witch or wizard from this corner of the world does, what it really is. It’s an _areth_. An ancient Germanic wedding tradition from the time of political marriages, originally performed to ensure the safety of witches when they entered into their new family. That hadn't been their meaning for over a century, of course. Romantics had adopted it as a symbol of lifelong devotion in the early 1800s and that had been his and Gellert’s meaning when they created their’s, too. While the tradition had been falling out of favor after The Great War, it was very likely Newt and Theseus' parents had performed the ritual.

In short: Newt knows the true nature of what he has recovered from their enemy. Albus is beyond thankful that it is not in Newt’s disposition to pry.

“Can you destroy it?” Newt asks him, as Albus had so often asked himself.

“Maybe,” he answers truthfully.

There are recorded ways of destroying _areths_ , of course, but they all include the participation of both parties. Destroying it against Gellert’s will… Albus trusts his own intellect to find a way, but he can’t say for sure if there even _is_ one.

Once upon a time, Albus had believed he understood Gellert, that he knew his mind as well as he knows his own, but with many years of reflection and regret, it has become increasingly obvious that Gellert had manipulated him. Albus has often wondered - especially in recent years, as his inability to move again Gellert troubles him more and more - if Gellert’s motivation for creating their _areth_ had really been the same as his.

It had been silly, in retrospect. Playing pretend at having what other people could have before they even knew each other well enough to make a decision like that if they had been allowed it. But young love was blinding. Albus had been head-over-heels in love and desperate for proof that Gellert was, too, and what could prove that better than a wedding ritual? When Gellert had suggested it one summer night, as they lay next to each on a hill at the outskirts of Godric’s Hollow, Albus’ heart had nearly skipped a beat.

“Do you mean it?” he’d asked softly and rolled over on his stomach to look at his beautiful companion.

“ _Ja_ ,” Gellert had answered with a lazy smile as he lifted his left hand to tangle it in Albus’ hair and pull him down in a kiss.

“I mean it,” he’d confirmed once again when they parted, his German accent less prominent than it had been at the beginning of the summer, now mingled together with an imitation of Albus’ own.

“Me and you, Albus,” he’d said. “We will change the world together.”

Albus hadn't let himself think it in the moment, too ecstatic at this seeming proof that Gellert was as devoted to him as he was to Gellert, but it hadn't been what he had wanted to hear, what he so desperately _needed_ to hear.

It hadn’t been “I love you”.

Though he had heard it countless times in dreams that became melancholy upon waking, Gellert had never told Albus that he loved him.

Gellert never _does_ tell Albus that he loves him.

But that was probably by design.

After all, people are easier to control when you keep them waiting breathlessly for your grace, always suggesting that it will come soon, so very soon, if they just stay patient...

In the years since, Albus has sometimes wondered if Gellert is even uranian at all, or if he had simply enjoyed the power he could hold over Albus with so very little effort… What would that German academic have called him, an _uranisierter Mann_? It’s impossible to know the truth of it, of course. Gellert’s mind, which he had once imagined himself an expert on, is forever closed to him.

He supposes it doesn't matter whether Gellert had cared or not. In truth, Albus should wish that he hadn’t. What would it say of his character, if a man like Gellert could care for him? Still, as much as the love Albus had felt then now fills him with disgust, it is difficult not to wish it had been mutual. Albus supposes he’s simply too arrogant to like the idea of having been completely fooled.

But no. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that Albus, no matter how in love he had been, or how well Gellert had manipulated him, or whether that manipulation had had its root in real attraction or simple egotism, is fully and completely responsible for what he had let Gellert lead him towards.

As stories of Gellert’s atrocities have only grown more numerous, Albus has been torturing himself with more and more unanswerable questions: Would he had let his intoxication lead him further astray, had Arianna not died? Would he have refused to see Gellert’s true colours for longer yet, for too long for him to go back? Would Albus have been, in another life, the partner Gellert had wanted, raining hell down upon the world next to him?

Albus has only taught about bogarts a few times, but that alone was more times than he would have desired. When the students saw his bogart take on Albus’ own form, they seemed to take it as a testament to how powerful their teacher was. The truth is that nothing scares Albus more than what he could have become.

What he can still become if he lets his ambition lead him, truth be told.

There’s a reason he’s a teacher. And a reason he prefers Transfiguration.

**Author's Note:**

> The word “areth” constructed from Old English ār (“honor, glory, grace”) and Old Saxon eth (“oath”). Gellert would call it an Ehreneid (“honor oath”).
> 
> “Uranian” is an old word used just before and concurrently with “homosexual” that meant something close to it, but in a time period where gender and sexuality could not be separated, thus also in the sense of third gender/intermediate sex/similar concepts. I imagine Dumbledore as someone who’d use both “uranian” and “homosexual” depending on circumstance, with “uranian” being the more poetic word and less clinical word, though it was certainly falling out of use in the 20’s. 
> 
> "That German academic" is Karl Henrich Ulrichs. I don't think his works would have been translated at this point, so Dumbledore probably haven't read them in full, but I imagine people at the "places Albus frequents" would have been corresponding with foreign wizards and through that osmosis, he's gotten the gist. 
> 
> "Uraniserter Mann" is a term from his research that refers to a (straight) man engaging in situational homosexuality.
> 
> No McGonagall or permanent Defense Against The Dark Arts post for Albus because one is a plot hole and the medallion says the other is dumb so we're not doing that ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I'm at [ punk-solas](http://punk-solas.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.


End file.
